


Unorthodox Coping Mechanisms

by Aestera



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 19:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20729339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aestera/pseuds/Aestera
Summary: Abed deviates from his usual role as the observer to confront some new feelings for Annie.





	Unorthodox Coping Mechanisms

**Author's Note:**

> Just rewatched community and realized that i wrote this awhile back and never posted it. Anyways, hoped you like it. I've also finished daredevil season 3 and i'm working on some one-shots but that'll probably take a while as i still have to catch up on the defenders to wrap my head around the sequence of events.

Jeff’s mouth was curved downwards. In this case, Abed had definitely missed something. And it wasn’t about something petty either. That he knew as much. He looked livid. Like Bruce Banner about to explode into the Hulk.

This was their first lunch together alone in about two weeks and it didn’t really go as planned.

Abed cocked his head to the side. He was shouting now, shoving him towards the drink machine and slamming him hard against it. Everyone had cleared out from the cafeteria at the first sign of outburst. He appreciated the gesture. The audience would be able to zero in on the main characters without any distractions. In this particular scene, it was him and Jeff, in the middle of a fight that resembled a cheesy high school intimidation sequence between the school bully and the eccentric outcast.

“You-“ he spat, “are in no position to tell me what to do. If you haven’t noticed, Abed, Annie and I are real people with real feelings. We don’t hide behind a façade of pop culture references and absurd movie spoofs to avoid dealing with life. The rest of group probably still think that its _adorable_ and _magical_ that a fully grown man has to resort to playing pretend like a deprived five year old with autism but you know what I think? I think this little game of make believe has gone on for far too long.”

Abed thought hard about the conversation that they were having before this. Something clicked. “You’re mad because I said that you and Annie shouldn’t be together.”

“Quite frankly, I don’t care what you think. But the fact that you automatically assume that you’re superior enough to pass judgment on us mortals pisses me off.”

“But I meant what I said. You and Annie aren’t cut out for each other. No doubt, her role in the group has mainly been one of the damsel in distress or the blushing bride, bound to end up with the dashing male lead. But after further analysis, I’ve concluded that a union between your characters no longer makes narrative sense.”

He took a sip of orange soda. Jeff smacked the can out of his hand. They both fell silent for a second, listening to the clatter of aluminum on linoleum flooring.

Jeff’s face was only a few inches away from his, lips curled into an ugly sneer. “Well, why didn’t you say so sooner? I guess we’ll just have to call it quits then. Whatever suits the narrative, right?”

Sarcasm. Jeff’s words were heavily inflected. That was always one of the more telling signs.

“I only take into account the best interests of the group.”

Jeff scoffed, leaning back into a nearby table. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Abed.”

Jeff was trying to get under his skin by hinting that he had obvious ulterior motives. That was far from the truth. Every member of the group possessed a quality or personality trait that he knew lacked. He had assumed the role of the stoic observer in the hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of each of their traits and finding ways to adopt them into his personality.

This couldn’t be about Annie. Jeff’s affection for her was shallow. He fetishized her schoolgirl act but talked down to her whenever she made an effort to appear more mature.

He had always admired Jeff’s leadership skills and compelling words. But it seemed like he had deviated quite considerably from his more positive traits. He couldn’t understand why Jeff had purposely singled him out to berate in such a demeaning fashion.

Unless, it wasn’t Jeff that was standing in front of him. At least not the version of him from the prime timeline.

Abed narrowed his eyes at Jeff’s doppelganger, focusing on his right arm. He needed to check if it was detachable without getting pummeled again.

When he didn’t respond, Jeff let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s almost three. We better get going before the rest start suspecting something.”

XXXX

It was exactly 3.20pm when Jeff and Abed strolled through the doors of the study room, looking slightly disheveled. Annie rolled her eyes. The last time they went off together they showed up the next day stone drunk and wearing sunglasses.

“Jeez, Winger. Camping out in your car again?” Britta smirked, clearly pleased to see Jeff looking less than perfect.

“Had a late night with some lady friends.” He replied smoothly. “They couldn’t handle their scotch so I had to help them finish.”

He paused dramatically. “And I also drank all the leftover drinks.”

The room erupted into loud whoops of laughter and cheers; with Pierce and Troy leaning across the table to fist bump Jeff.

She glared at him, mouth pursed in a disapproving frown and he sank down into his seat. Maybe it was just the light, but he was looking a little…off. There were dark circles under his eyes and he seemed to be on edge. And there were orange soda stains on his sleeves.

“Alright!” She said brightly. “We should get started now that everyone’s here. The biology test tomorrow covers chapters one through four with special focus on diffusion and osmosis.”

She glanced up to ask Abed to share his notes and realized that he seemed to be engrossed in editing one of his weird diagrams that was probably some visual representation of the group’s dynamics.

“Abed, can you share your notes for chapter one with us?”

“Sure, after I’m done with this chart. You and Jeff are now an item so I’m making the necessary adjustments to work out how it affects the arc of this season and rest of us as characters.”

There was a collective groan from around the table. Annie could feel her face getting uncomfortably warm. How dare he insinuate such things? There wasn’t anything going on between the both of them.

“Jeff and I aren’t an item!” she exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest. “We’re just friends. Right, Jeff?”

She turned to look at Jeff but he was glaring down at his textbook, jaw clenched.

“Oh, An-nie.” Shirley touched her arm gently. “You don’t have to feel pressured to put a name to whatever’s going on between you and Jeff. As long as pre-marital sex is out of the equation, you don’t have any reason to feel guilty.”

She felt a strange rage sizzling within her, mostly directed at Jeff for his stubborn silence.

“We’re not blind, Annie.” Britta sighed. “We see the way you look at Jeff when you think he’s not looking. Just do the deed already and move on.”

Britta always thought she was so mature, with her political activist past and stripper boots. There were times where Annie just wanted to slap her right across the face.

“I would, Britta, but then I’d be following in your footsteps.” she said coolly. “And that’d lead me straight down to AIDS-ville.”

“You know what, Annie. That was a pathetic comeback, as usual. I’m going to study somewhere else where I don’t have to be constantly bombarded by your squealing and giggling. We’re all sick of it.”

With that, Britta gathered up her books and stormed out of the study room. To her surprise, Jeff got up and followed Britta out without another word to the rest of them. Abed didn’t say anything throughout the squabble, but there was the faintest gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. The study session was fairly awkward after that, with her leading and the rest pretending to listen.

When they all had left, she grabbed Abed by the arm and pulled him towards a deserted corner of the library.

“What the hell was that all about?” she whispered fiercely. “You know perfectly well there isn’t anything going on between me and Jeff. Were you trying to instigate a fight?”

Abed raised an eyebrow. “He certainly seemed to think otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He admitted to having feelings for you. When we were having lunch at the cafeteria. I told him that I didn’t think you two getting together was a good idea.”

“Oh my god.” She covered her face with hands and leaned against a bookshelf. “Why did you tell him that? This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Jeff actually said that? Her mind was spinning. She had always assumed that their on and off flirtation was just a passing fancy for him, but could he actually have developed feelings for her?

“I’m part of the group. A blossoming relationship between you and Jeff could potentially stunt my growth as a character. I have a right to interject.”

“Oh grow up already, Abed. I’m trying to be serious here.” She folded her arms across her chest and glowered him. “I can’t even stand Jeff most of the time.”

“And yet you still remain steadfastly loyal to him despite all logic pointing to the contrary. Not to mention that you’ve turned an unnatural shade of crimson throughout the course of this conversation.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but realized that she didn’t have a rebuttal.

“Anyway, I thought I should tell you that Jeff is currently being impersonated by his doppelganger from the darkest timeline. I’m going to head back to the Dreamatorium to see if I can find a solution to reclaim the version of him from the prime timeline.”

“What? Um…Okay.” She was stumped, but she knew Abed well enough to know when to back off. He had a specific way of perceiving the world, which were miles away from all coherent logic and reason that she surrounded herself with. Maybe this was an explanation for his behavior earlier. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

She watched him slink off, the smallest sliver of frustration creeping into her system. Abed was an enigma. And Annie always had a penchant for solving puzzles.

XXXX

“Start simulation. The darkest timeline. Current time 6.07pm.”

Abed watched as the black walls and orange tape morphed into a perfect duplicate of the study room. The only difference was the random bits of litter that strewn across the room and dim lighting flickering on and off.

“Hello, Abed.” Jeff stepped out from behind an overturned cabinet. He was wearing leather pants and a black coat, eyes ringed with pencil liner.

“Hello, Evil Jeff. It seems like you’ve succeeded in penetrating the prime timeline, a difficult feat, I imagine. The only way in and out of timelines is through the dreamatorium so I assumed you managed to tweak the simulations to suit your needs.”

“That wasn’t me, you idiot. I never left the darkest timeline.” Evil Jeff took a step forward and began circling around Abed. “I’m trapped here. Thanks to you and your lame study group.”

“If lame Jeff is making things hard for you, I can always help to take him out. The rest would never find out, especially if I’m replacing him.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Abed replied. “The group’s dynamics are already hanging by a thread as it is. You’ll probably end up doing more harm than good. That is, after all, the nuance of your character.”

“Somehow I don’t think Annie would be able to resist me. I’m Jeff winger’s bad side on steroids, amplified to the thousandth degree.” He cackled. “Her greatest wet dream.”

But it was too late; Evil Jeff closed in on him and knocked him to the ground, hands closing on his windpipe.

“End simulation.” He gasped. The last thing he saw was the library fading back into thick orange lines before everything faded to black.

XXXX

There was a loud crash coming from the spare room. Or the Dreamatorium as it was referred to in this household. Annie rushed over and opened the door, only to find out Abed sprawled out on the floor, his hands clawing at his neck.

“Abed, wake up! What happened?” She ran to his side, helping him sit up.

“It’s the real Jeff.” He said, getting to his feet. “Not an impersonation.”

Annie thought back to the night when they invited the group over for pizza at their housewarming party. Abed had been going on about the different timelines for days after that.

She decided to play along. “That’s a pity, I know that he can be a little harsh sometimes. He’s a lot more insecure than he looks.”

“That’s true, at first I thought he was like John McLane. You know, the good kind of bad. But now I kind of see how he would resemble Hans more. Anyway, both of them hate to lose.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean what he said.” She reached out to take hold of his hand, running her fingers across his palm.

It was true that she had been infatuated with Jeff for the better part of last year. She liked men with confidence and wit, and Jeff had that in heaps. But he was never around when she needed someone to talk to, and somehow, Abed always was. He never questioned or judged her emotional outbursts. He listened, and provided her with a strangely detailed analysis from his viewpoint as an outsider. Her problems always seemed less significant when he broke them down for her. It was strangely comforting.

“And anyway, I don’t care.”

Abed frowned at her. “About what?”

“About what Jeff thinks.” She said quietly. “I used to, but I don’t anymore. Whatever happens in this apartment stays in this apartment right?”

His head jerked up at her words, a look of understanding coloring his expression. “Right.”

There was so much more she wanted to say, but she wasn’t sure how to phrase it in a way that Abed would understand. Instead, she settled for giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze before crossing the apartment to shut herself in her bedroom.

XXXX

Abed was walking out of biology class, when he heard someone calling his name. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Jeff Winger sidling up next to him.

“Sorry about what happened yesterday.” Jeff said. “I don’t know what got into me. If you’re interested in Annie, you should go for it. She deserves someone that makes her happy.”

“It’s fine. I was under the impression that you had been impersonated and held hostage by your evil counterpart. But it turns out that I was wrong. You were just being a jerk.”

Jeff seemed confused at the relief in his voice. “I guess I was. Parallel worlds restored then?”

“To the best of my knowledge.”

“Alright, that’s good to hear.” Jeff muttered, pulling his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his messages. He could tell that Jeff was making a significant effort to keep the sarcasm out of his tone. But Abed was just glad that their characters got to make up by the end of the episode.

XXXX

Annie had just finished preparing dinner when Abed walked out of his room. Troy was over at Britta’s for the night so it was just the both of them.

“Hey, I made buttered noodles.” She smiled, setting a bowl out in front of him.

“Cool. Thanks.” He picked up the bowl, staring at its contents and hesitating slightly. She waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts. She knew that heart-to-heart conversations weren’t exactly his forte.

“I underestimated your ability to transcend plot conventions.” He finally said, not meeting her eyes.

Annie nodded. That was probably the highest compliment she could ever hope to get out of Abed.

“Do you think this particular plotline could use some improvisation?” She thought that she would test the waters first. “Maybe some deviation from our pre-planned character arcs?”

Flirting with Abed certainly required an immense amount of effort and a careful choice of words. But she felt like she could get the hang of it.

An expression akin to excitement flickered across his face. “I think the relationship between our characters could use some development. It’s been three seasons after all.”

“Lunch tomorrow at Senõr Kevin’s? My treat.” She bit her lip to suppress a grin. “I have watched literally every rom com ever made so I can be sure to avoid all classic first date scenarios.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.”

It wasn’t much. But it was a start.


End file.
